


the night has a thousand eyes

by AuroraLights (CrownPrincessMoon)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, High School, Life Lessons, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Slow Build, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, attempted humor, because I'm not really funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 12:57:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19476397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownPrincessMoon/pseuds/AuroraLights
Summary: Tony would like to go on record for having admitted that he would make an utterly appalling father, just the absolute worse, really, and therefore, any psychological trauma suffered by the three-year-old currently sitting at his kitchen counter, stuffing chocolate-chip cookies in his face, in the future is not his fault.It's Pepper's.Alternatively known as:The story of how Tony and Peter, father-son disaster duo, learn to navigate the bewildering and hair-raising waters of parenthood and family whilst dealing with aliens, iron suits, super secret spy agencies, and radioactive spiders from Oscorp, because why the hell not?Oh, and of course stopping Harley Keener from becoming one the biggest threats known to man.





	the night has a thousand eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [No Parental Leave](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067161) by [WritingItDunn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingItDunn/pseuds/WritingItDunn). 



> Hola!!!
> 
> This whole entire thing literally stems from my sudden and inexplicable obsession with Harley Keener after seeing him in _that_ scene. 
> 
> (You know the one I'm talking about).
> 
> So, like, enjoy!
> 
> (Here's hoping I actually finish a fanfic, for once!)

**2006**  
When Tony finally emerges from a long and cold night in his lab (due to, he suspects, a calculated effort by JARVIS to get Tony out sooner than usual by cranking up the AC), face smeared with grease and his fingers stiff from overuse, the last thing he expects to find in his kitchen is a small child sitting at the marble island with a plate of chocolate-chip cookies in front of him.  
  
So. This is. This is a thing.   
  
The boy looks up at him with milk chocolate brown eyes that would melt a warmer, much kinder soul but since Tony is decidedly _not_ that, all it does is creep him out further.   
  
Like, who the _actual_ fuck is this kid?  
  
"Jarvis? Quick question. Am I hallucinating or do you too see the mini-human in my kitchen?"  
  
"Your vitals, while not healthy, sir, are within the normal range. The child before you is not a figment of your imagination."  
  
Oh. Nice to know he isn't going crazy. Now then.  
  
" _Heeey_ , little person," He ventures cautiously, keeping his eyes on the tiny person as he crosses behind the counter to get to the fridge. He flicks the door open, grabs his Red Bull, and kicks it shut again, all without prying his gaze from the virtual stranger in his kitchen.  
  
When he pops the tab, leaning back in the counter behind him, the child looks back down and redirects his focus towards destroying Tony's cookies with his bare hands.  
  
Tony takes a large swig from his can, closes his eyes, counts to ten, and opens them again.   
  
And yeah, the kid is still there.  
  
"All I wanted," he laments as he tilts his head back to look at the ceiling, searching for answers in the speckled paint above him, "Was a Red Bull. That's all. Maybe a blanket and a sandwich, if I wasn't feeling too self-destructive. So, _why_ is there a kid in my kitchen, there shouldn't _be_ a kid in my kitchen."  
  
He looks at the tiny human currently picking chocolate-chips out of his cookie, which, _wasteful_ , by the way, "Why are you in my kitchen?"  
  
Tony doesn't really expect an answer from the three-year-old who seems to be all but oblivious to how strange their situation is, so he opts to call the one person who might have a clue.  
  
“ _Pepper?!_ ”  
  
She might as well have materialized from the wall with how quick she appears, a stack of files in her hands and a stuffed panda bear he remembers buying from Shanghai Disneyland last year.  
  
“Hey, that's my panda," he reaches for it but she easily evades his grasp, offering it instead to the little boy who latches onto it like a leech, thanking her in a small voice and taking another moment to thoroughly unsettle Tony by just staring at him before beginning to eat just as quietly as he spoke.  
  
A tiny-panda-bear-stealing leech with eyes like a cartoon character.  
  
Pepper strokes his brown hair briefly, feather-like strands dancing between her fingers before coming over to Tony, dragging him out from behind the island and away from the boy.  
  
Once they're in the living room, out of hearing range, he doesn't skip a beat, “Pepper, _why_ is there a small human in my kitchen and _why_ is he eating my cookies?”  
  
“Because he asked for them," Pepper answers like that's a worthy reason for going through Tony's secret junk food stash, "Remember that thing you said you were too busy for?”  
  
Tony blinks at her owlishly because, _no_ , _obviously_.  
  
“You’re _really_ going to need to be a _lot_ more specific, Ms. Potts, because there are a lot of things people talk to me about that I’m generally too busy for. Like lunch meetings with Rhodey, or the Secretary of State," he throws a brief glance over his shoulder then lowers his voice further, in case the panda-bear-leech is listening in, "I think there's something wrong with him. Why does he keep staring at me like that? Better question: Why the _hell_ is there a three-year-old in my kitchen?”  
  
“Four, actually. And I’m talking about the will reading of Mary and Richard Parker. Remember them? I told you about it weeks ago.”  
  
The names tug at something in Tony's head but not enough to shine any clarity on the situation, “Really not seeing what that has to do with the kid.”  
  
"Jarvis, do you mind?"  
  
"Certainly not, Ms. Potts."  
  
A second later a hologram materializes in front of them, a young woman with coffee brown hair that curls around her shoulders are caught in mid-laugh with a blonde man donning a pair of thick-framed glasses.  
  
"If I may refresh your memory, sir, Mary and Richard Parker worked in the biochemical engineering department of R&D for three years before resigning. Before her marriage to Richard, Mary went by her maiden name, Fitzpatrick."  
  
 _Fitzpatrick_? Now, why did that sound so famil--  
  
Oh, shit.  
  
"During an office party in the summer of 2001," Jarvis continues, "Mr. Stark had Mr. Hoagan drive him and Ms. Fitzpatrick to his house."  
  
 _Oh shit oh fuck oh shit_.  
  
"The following year, Mary Fitzpatrick, now married to Richard Parker, gave birth to Peter Benjamin Parker."  
  
 _Fuck fuck fuck fuck_. **Fuck**.  
  
He walks back into the kitchen, ignoring Jarvis' genealogy lesson because he remembers just enough about that night to cause a stress-induced heart-attack right about now, and moves in front the island counter, taking in the signature Stark brown of the kid's eyes once more and it suddenly makes sense why they disturbed him so much before.  
  
It takes him a second and then he just stares at the kid. And just keeps looking at him.  
  
Those eyes are _his_. Carbon copies, really.  
  
“Will reading?” He repeats when Pepper appears in the doorway, "Of Mary and Richard Parker?"  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Four, you say?”  
  
“Turned a couple of months ago, yes.”  
  
"And we're absolutely sure, right? Not a chance that Mary was high on painkillers? You know I'm pretty sure I remember her being a drunk."  
  
"Your name is on the _birth certificate_ , Tony." Pepper stresses, stepping further into the room, arms crossed.  
  
"Didn't- Didn't Richard have a brother? He had a brother, right? Benedict, or Benny, or something like that. Why did he even go to me?"  
  
"Mary made it abundantly clear in her will that May and Ben were to share custody of Peter with you," She takes a moment to stroke Peter's head again, and he turns into her touch, "She wanted him to know his father."  
  
"You know that's sweet and all, but _no_ ," He doesn't wait for her reply, pushing past her through the doorway and heading down to his workshop, "She never even _told_ me about him. And she expects me to _what_? Drop everything and take care of some kid I don't even know? Are you sure the DNA test was a match? Richard was a biochemist, after all. You should _never_ trust a biochemist. They're the reason Frankenstein exists."   
  
In between the moments he chooses to cease his rambling and _breathe_ , he hears Pepper calling after him, her heels making ominous _click-clack_ noises as she somehow manages to follow and keep up in stilettos.  
  
Once down there, he orders Jarvis to play something loud enough to ensure that hearing loss is now an inevitable part of his future.   
He moves from workspace to workspace, tinkering with the first things his fingers come into contact with and then setting them down again, ducks both Dum-E and U's arms, respectively, then sits down at his computer.  
  
Pepper finally arrives, her presence announced by the quiet voice she uses to tell Jarvis to turn off the music.  
  
"Tony," she implores softly.  
  
"No," he shakes his head, opens up his computer and starts typing. Pulling up files, trying to find one that he can focus on and lose himself in.   
  
There are detonators in lab A7 that are malfunctioning for seemingly no reason. He throws up a hologram. Maybe if he takes apart the central core--

He doesn't get very far before Pepper is grabbing the back of his chair and pulling him away from his desk, impervious to his whines of discontent.  
  
"Tony," she begins again, lowering herself into a delicate crouch in front of him.  
  
"Wha-- _No, Pepper!_ You don't understand."  
  
"Then explain it to me in that _obnoxious_ , know-it-all way of yours."  
  
"I can’t be a father. And not in the biological sense, _obviously_ , the boy proves it, but I can't be a parent. I'd be _terrible_ at parenting. Hell, I'm terrible at adulting, too, you've said it yourself. Millions of times. And let's not even touch the ticking time-bomb that is the press. They're going to tear into this story like fucking vultures. He won't get one moment's peace."  
  
And, real talk?   
  
While those are all very, _very_ valid reasons for not wanting to share the responsibility of his son, Tony can't look past his, well, _past_.   
If history is doomed to repeat itself, he's destined to end up like his father: cold, detached, and bitter.  
  
He can't do that to the kid.  
  
"Adopt him out," He says, and hurries to speak over Pepper when she opens her mouth, "No, hear me out. Have Ben and May adopt him officially. Unofficially, I'll have him stay in the tower every once in a while. Just so that Mary isn't rolling in her grave somewhere over this."   
  
"Tony, I don't think that's what she meant," Pepper sighs, and Tony takes her hands, rising from his chair and straightening her out.  
  
"Pepper, please," He's tempted to make puppy eyes at this point, that's how _desperate_ he is for this, "I just want to give him his best chance. I'll pay for anything he'll ever need: college, cars, apartments--"  
  
"-Tony, why on Earth would a four-year-old need a _car_?-"  
  
"-A private jet. Limousine for senior prom, even. So, come on, Pep. _Please_?"  
  
She stares at him long and hard, crystal blue eyes searching for something in his face before she looses an exasperated sigh that Tony has come to learn means he's getting what he wants.  
  
"Fine," she says, "I'll have the attorney work something out with May and Ben."  
  
" _Yes_! Thank you so much! Did I mention I'm in love with you?" He kisses both of her cheeks and turns to his computer again.  
  
" _Naahh_. Not so fast," she pulls him back and raises her index finger, "First things first: visitations. He sees you for at least two weeks every month."  
  
"A couple of weekends." He counters.  
  
"No. Two weeks."  
  
"I'm a busy man, Ms. Potts. Three days. It's longer than a weekend."  
  
"We'll work around your schedule if we have to. 10 days."  
  
"One week. Final offer," he crosses his arms, "I'll throw in some SI merch, too."  
  
Pepper's eyes roll.  
  
"Fine. Deal."  
  
"Good. What's the second thing?"  
  
"You introduce yourself. Officially. His name is Peter."  
  
"Nice name."  
  
"So is Tony. Go tell him that."  
  
As if on cue, they hear a small knock.   
  
Turning, they see Peter on the other side of the frosted glass wall, looking lonely, lost and confused.  
  
"How the hell did he get off that stool?" Tony wonders aloud as Pepper wraps her hand securely around his wrist and drags him behind her.   
  
Jarvis opens the door as they approach and they meet somewhere in the middle between workshop and hallway.  
  
He comes in looking very shy, and Tony immediately pegs that trait as Mary's influence because he remembers how hard it was to initiate a conversation with her unless they were talking about the properties of amino acids in DNA strands, in which case, you couldn't stop her from talking.  
  
“Peter," Pepper begins, "I’d like you to meet Tony Stark.”   
  
The boy looks first at Pepper then Tony, peering through unruly hair that looks as if it was brushed down multiple times before the person decided to just up and quit, leaving it messy and wavy in a way that still manages to look semi-okay (and Tony's pretty sure he got that from him).   
  
He gives a grin that probably looks as awkward as it feels, trying not to focus too much on deep brown eyes that betray an intelligence the kid has yet to come into on his own. It's unsettling, almost.  
  
Should he crouch down?   
  
He feels like he should be crouching down.   
  
He bends down so that Peter no longer has to look up and holds out his hand.  
  
The four-year-old stares at it briefly and then takes it, his skin baby-soft against Tony's callouses.  
  
“Are you--? You're my other dad, right?” He asks, tilting his head in a fashion, not unlike a puppy.  
  
“Uh, yeah. Seems like it.”  
  
“Do I have to live with you?”  
  
“Only sometimes. We'll see what we can do.”  
  
"Are these your cars?" He peers around Tony as he asks, eyes lingering on some of the more noticeable vehicles.  
  
"Yeah, actually."  
  
"Oh," he looks at Tony once more and rubs his eyes with one fist, "I'm tired."  
  
"You're...tired. Pepper, he's tired." He looks behind him for help and Peter chooses that moment to move further into his workshop, approaching the holographic diagram of the detonator from lab A7.   
  
"Hey, wait. Kid, don't touch-" Tony doesn't get far before the kid is moving the central core further down the metal frame and bringing the spiral bevel to the forefront.  
  
" _RUNNING SIMULATION. MODEL SUCCESSFUL_ ," The hologram announces, and Tony. Just. _Stares_ at the kid whose interest has already shifted to DUM-E and U, like he didn't just solve a product defect that had baffled dozens of his smartest engineers for weeks.  
  
"What the-? How'd you do that?" Tony asks, striding forward and studying the improved gear, and Peter only shrugs and mumbles, "It didn't fit before. I made it fit."   
  
He still looks lost and lonely, but somehow, something has changed between them.   
  
If only Tony knew and cared what.  
  
“Fine, Pepper, you win, we can keep him. But he's keeping his last name and staying out of this room until further notice,” He makes a shooing motion towards the door, “Now help him pick one of the spare rooms, I have deadlines.”   
  
He gives Peter one last appraising glance before turning back to his work station, and he can _feel_ Pepper's disappointment, like laser beams, really, and he sighs, heavily.   
  
“Welcome to your part-time home, kid," He tosses over his shoulder, "Before your aunt and uncle pick you up, I'll take you out for ice cream or something.”  
  
“Okay!” Peter's smile is disgustingly sweet--Tony can feel cavities forming in real-time--and when it starts to fade, Tony raises an eyebrow at him.  
  
"What?" He prompts.  
  
“Um, what do I call you?”  
  
“Huh?” Tony’s face goes blank. What kind of stupid question...?   
  
"Daddy isn't here anymore. Do I call you Dad, instead? Papa?" Peter's gaze is heartbreakingly sincere, and maybe a little sad as he recalls the father who raised him for four years.  
  
Tony's heart stops at the question and, yeah, he is _grossly_ unprepared for this.   
  
“Uh, Tony. Tony works for now. Sound okay with you?”   
  
Peter is silent for a long moment, and then, "Mr. Stark."  
  
Which isn't what Tony suggested at all, but they'll work on it.  
  
He smiles up at Tony a little awkwardly before Pepper takes his hand and leads him back up the stairs and out of the room.   
  
And while it takes him four days to finish to the blueprints, and another four to sort out the adoption and custody papers with his lawyers, Mary's attorney, and May and Ben, he eventually does take Peter out for some ice cream.  
  
Turns out he likes mint chocolate-chip.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you guys think! Feel free to leave comments and kudos <3
> 
> ^_^


End file.
